The present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for making presentations during which it may be desirable to "backtrack" and confirm the correctness of data and conclusions obtained in the presentation. In a particular embodiment, the invention is useful in preparing and presenting calculations of life insurance needs to meet estate tax and other needs.
The sale of life insurance to pay final expenses including burial, probate expenses, attorney fees, state death taxes and federal estate taxes is well known. The need for such insurance in many cases is well documented. What is often difficult for both potential insurance customers and insurance salespeople is to determine the amount of insurance that is likely to be needed for that particular customer. While the insurance sales professional can determine such amount using certain assumptions and customer-provided information, the customer can easily become confused about how the salesman has come up with a particular proposed insurance amount. Even when the salesman carefully discusses the situation with the prospect, the complexity of the calculations and the prospect's unfamiliarity with many of the concepts quickly leads to a lack of understanding of the rationale for a given insurance proposal. Too often, this leads to a lost sale or, at the least, the need for the salesperson to repeatedly go over the computations with the prospect to show the insurance need. This leads to a loss of efficiency, at the least.
Accordingly there is a need in the art for a tool to assist the sales professional in calculating the insurance need and in demonstrating the correctness of that calculation to the prospect.